Manchester Test cancellation unfortunate, hoping for a safe and quality IPL, says Virat Kohli

The fifth Test between India and England in Manchester was cancelled on September 10 due to Covid-19 concerns in the Indian camp. As the series-decider against the hosts was cancelled, the Indian players flew to the UAE earlier than expected to join their IPL teams ahead of the second leg of IPL 2021. Virat Kohli and Mohammed Siraj arrived in the Gulf nation on Sunday after RCB arranged a chartered flight from Manchester to Dubai. 

Virat Kohli, who is currently undergoing a six-day isolation period asserted that it was unfortunate to leave England without the completion of the Test series and land in UAE earlier than expected for the IPL 2021. He further stated that he is hopeful that the second leg of IPL 2021 will provide a safe environment for the players.

“Unfortunate that we had to end up here early, but with COVID in place, things are very uncertain. Anything can happen at any time," Kohli said in ‘RCB Bold Diaries’ series on RCB Digital Media Platforms.

"Hopefully, we're able to maintain a good, strong, and secure environment, and have a quality IPL. It's going to be an exciting phase and a very important one for us at RCB and then for the Indian team at the T20 World Cup,” he said. 

Speaking on new additions to the RCB , Kohli stated that the franchise have replaced their key players with some top-quality cricketers for the tournament in UAE.

"I've been in touch with everyone. We've had discussions over the last month or so, a little longer than that with the replacements, who's coming and who's not.

"Eventually, we ended up replacing our key players with some top-quality cricketers. Our key players will be missed, and they are a part of the family, but the people coming in as well have great skill sets, especially for these conditions. So, I'm very excited to see them, with the whole group at practice and certainly very excited to resume a very good season that started last time around."

The second half of IPL 2021 starts from Sep 19 and RCB will start their campaign against KKR on September 20 in Abu Dhabi.